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The introduction of new non-indigenous species (NIS) in Spanish marine waters is addressed under Descriptor 2 of the European Union’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive. National baseline inventories of NIS have been compiled and updated for the three subregions (Western Mediterranean Sea, WMED; Bay of Biscay–Iberian Coast, ABI; Macaronesia, AMA) with data from 1800 to 2021. An overall of 574 species were identified with an alien, cryptogenic, crypto-expanding, or debatable status, mostly invertebrates (~65%) and primary producers (~22%). Of 412 alien species, 80.51% were reported in ABI, 67.82% in WMED, and 66.67% in AMA. Cryptogenic species are more abundant in the WMED (25.25%), compared to AMA (19.77%) and ABI (18.46%). ABI harbors more established species (62.56%) than AMA (45.2%) and WMED (43.56%), contrary to casual records (AMA 31.64%, WMED 23.76%, ABI 13.85%). Invasive species are more abundant (14.36%) in WMED. The ‘transport-stowaway’ pathway accounted for 142 (79.33%), 123 (67.58%), and 169 (85.21%) records in WMED, ABI, and AMA, respectively. The second most common pathway was ‘transport-contaminant’ related to mariculture (~10% of the total), prevalently in ABI with 42 species (23.08%). The Canary Islands stand out for species introduced through oil platforms from throughout the world. ‘Unaided’ was a relevant pathway of secondary introduction into the WMED, particularly of Lessepsian species progressing westwards. Temporal trends in newly introduced species show similar behavior among subregions.

The selective retention of fish is a consequence of size and species-dependent fish behaviour during the trawling process. The observation of fish reactions to trawl gear is critical to understanding the behavioural mechanisms responsible for trawl selectivity and to develop future trawl gear for research. In demersal trawling, there is a need to develop more species-selective trawls to minimize discarding and bycatch in multispecies fisheries. This requires observational tools that can operate at depths and light levels encountered by the commercial fleets and with the ability to quantify the herding and capture efficiency by species and age groups of such gears. A range of optical and acoustic observation techniques has been developed over the past few decades to assist in these goals. Work with underwater cameras in fishing gear varies from the simple observation of the presence of certain species during capture to the study of the complex interactions of fishing gear and species during the trawling process. Previous work seems to show that there are different response patterns in the general behaviour of some fish species when entering a trawl. One of these behaviours is that the vertical preference in the trawl cavity differs between species. Several authors have complemented behavioural studies carried out at sea with experimental studies to further explore the interaction between fish and fishing gear. Some authors indicate that the vertical preferences of some fish species change as they move through the net towards the codend. This implies that behavioural selection can potentially change along the horizontal axis of the fishing net. A description of the bycatch (cetaceans, sharks, and skates) and fish behaviour within bottom trawling gear was given through the use of underwater cameras. The objective was to determine the most suitable fishing gear configurations to prevent the escape of the fishing catch during fishing trials carried out to test the operat

Elasmobranchs are marine vertebrates with a global decline in catches due to overfishing (2). Skates and rays have particular biological characteristics including large sizes, slow growth, late reproduction and low fecundity, which increase vulnerability to fisheries (4). They present a high morphological variability during their growth, which makes a correct identification difficult; there is scientific evidence of misidentifications and mixtures of species, which prevents a proper fisheries management. In fisheries management it is very useful to combine morphological and molecular techniques for the unequivocal identification of species. The EU has established a landing ban on the common skate, Dipturus batis, which inhabits the Northeast Atlantic, and it is currently listed as "critically endangered" by the IUCN (1) due to overfishing (6). In addition, there is currently a great controversy surrounding the taxonomic confusion of this skate, since this species was considered in the literature as a single species, being in fact a complex of species formed by the provisionally named Dipturus batis and Dipturus intermedia (3, 5, 6). The aim of this study is to combine morphometric and molecular analyses for the correct identification. For the analyses, samples of Dipturus batis, Dipturus oxyrinchus and Dipturus nidarosiensis were taken. Type entire specimens were storage for morphometric analysis, and muscle samples preserved in absolute alcohol for genetic analysis. Twenty-nine morphometric measurements were taken from each type specimen and DNA extraction on muscle and amplification of two mitochondrial, genes were performed, a Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI) fragment (aprox. 600pb) and a 16S fragment (aprox. 500pb). Identification was made through the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool of GenBank. According to the preliminary results obtained from the analysis of the sequences, this would correspond mainly to D. batis.

Research in marine Spanish waters are focused on several actions to achieve an effectively management on protected areas, with the active participation of the stakeholders and research as basic tools for decision-making. Among these actions, there is one about the knowledge and control on NIS. One of its objectives is the creation of NIS factsheets, which are going to be added to the National Marine Biodiversity Geographical System (GIS) providing complementary information about taxonomic classification, common names, taxonomic synonyms, species illustrations, identification morphological characters, habitat in the native and introduced regions, biological and ecological traits, GenBank DNA sequences, world distribution, first record and evolution in the introduced areas, likely pathways of introduction, effects in the habitats and interaction with native species, and potential management measures to apply. The database will also provide data for (1) the European online platforms, (2) the environmental assessment for the Descriptor 2 (D2-NIS) of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), as well as (3) supporting decisions made by stakeholders. It is the result of extensive collaboration among scientist, manager’s and citizen science in the Spanish North-Atlantic, South-Atlantic, Gibraltar Strait-Alboran, Levantine-Balearic and Canary Islands marine divisions, providing an updated overview of the spatial distribution of relevant extended and invasive NIS of recent and established NIS introduced by maritime transport and aquaculture pathways, as well as on cryptogenic or native species in expansion due to the climatic water warming trend.

Hace más de 50 años comenzó su andadura el Centro Oceanográfico de A Coruña. Ocurrió en un vetusto local del puerto, y se denominó por aquel entonces como Laboratorio del Noroeste. Durante este medio siglo este centro ha trabajado básicamente en las áreas de la biología pesquera, la acuicultura marina y la oceanografía multidisciplinar, si bien los equipos de investigación han ido evolucionando a lo largo de este tiempo, abriendo o cerrando líneas de trabajo según las circunstancias. A pesar de haber trabajado en todos los océanos del mundo, incluidos el ártico y el antártico, una parte importante de las investigaciones del oceanográfico coruñés siempre han estado centradas en su entorno cercano: el golfo Ártabro. Desde los años ochenta, este centro coruñés monitorea el ambiente pelágico y bentónico de la ría de A Coruña y su plataforma adyacente. Esto supone una valiosísima serie histórica de datos oceanográficos, cuya utilidad quedó de sobra demostrada durante las catástrofes de los petroleros Aegean Sea y Prestige. La idea de crear este libro surgió justo antes del 50 Aniversario del Centro Oceanográfico de A Coruña (1968-2018). Nace con la intención de recopilar y resumir el conocimiento científico en torno a la biodiversidad marina en el ámbito de trabajo más cercano al centro coruñés. Es intención de este libro el servir como publicación de referencia a todo tipo de estudio sobre la biodiversidad y la oceanografía biológica del golfo Ártabro. Para ello nos servimos de la información obtenida directamente del oceanográfico herculino tanto de sus series históricas, como de otros estudios realizados en la zona. Además, la colaboración en materia de pesca de los centros oceanográficos de A Coruña, Vigo, Santander y Gijón permitió aportar a este volumen el capítulo dedicado a las especies desembarcadas por la flota artesanal en la lonja coruñesa. Por otra parte, los especialistas en bentos duro del Centro de Gijón fueron los encargados de elaborar la parte dedicada

There is a growing interest and obligations to bring the results of scientific research closer to society. In this sense, the Instituto Español de Oceanografiá (IEO, CSIC) has acquired in recent years an institutional commitment with the scientific dissemination, carrying out some projects on this topic. The objective of these projects is to visualize and value their research and results in different formats increasing the scientific culture of society that demand and financed most of public research. In the present work four successful initiatives or projects are presented. Diversimar project is a citizen science tool for the observation of the marine and fishing biodiversity of Galicia and the Cantabrian Sea. Mar interior project brings activity of IEO to society with face-to-face conferences and workshops. Planet Tuna project combines science with art through an online platform to enhance the scientific knowledge of tuna and other big pelagics for their sustainability. To end, the interactive book '45 days on the Flemish Cap Bank' spreads the technical and human effort of an oceanographic survey that remains behind the fisheries management developed by the IEO. The objective of the present study is to make visible and put in value these projects and serve as inspiration.

The last multiannual Community program for the collection, management and use of data in the fisheries sector (Commission Decision 2008/949/EC) stated the provision of precision levels and sampling intensities of the estimates at national level. However, the unequal compliance of this standard has hindered its application in stock assessment and the consequent scientific advice. The cost-benefit analysis of a sampling program, besides addressing logistical and economic constraints, should deepen the potential of the tools currently available. This article proposes to test the calculation, provision and use in stock assessment of extensively collected precision parameters. First, sampling intensities and coefficients of variation of fisheries-dependent parameters are calculated using the COST software, a statistical tool specifically designed to quantify uncertainty in marine sampled data. Secondly, alternative ways are explored to provide precision parameters to the stock assessment coordinators by using InterCatch, the existing ICES web-based system to submit national data and compile international catch matrices. Finally, the incorporation of these precision parameters in the assessment model is tested, through a stock assessed by statistical assessment models (such as SS3) which can account for sampling errors. Thus, it will be possible to quantify how errors in input data propagate through stock assessment models to affect harvest rules, and also to help identify the most cost-effective data collections that adequately support the advisory process.

The Northern Spanish coastal small scale fleet represents a major challenge for sampling due to the multi-species and multi-gear character and the complexity of the fleets’ dynamics. Particularly, the small-scale gillnets called “beta” (GNS_DEF_60-79_0_0) represents a complex Spanish métiers in terms of catches, effort, geographical distribution and the number of exploited species. Comparison of data obtained in 2008, under a stock-based approach, versus concurrent sampling realized in 2014 resulted in the increase of the information obtained and provided to ICES without detected failures in data quality. Concurrent sampling could represent a source of information for small-scale fisheries which often target a set of coastal species some of which are presently unassesed.

A meta-analysis of the straight fork lengths (herewith abbreviated as L) of 2,458,028 Atlantic bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus (L.), taken from 224 scientific publications and unpublished L data from scientific organizations and fishing companies spanning most of the known Atlantic and Mediterranean Atlantic bluefin tuna fisheries dating from 1605 to 2011, give L values ranging from L min = 20 cm and L max = 330 cm. The results indicate that the parameter L ∞ = 318.85 cm of the growth equation used by ICCAT's Standing Committee on Research and Statistics Atlantic bluefin tuna assessment group for the eastern stock (Lt = 318.85 [1 – e−0.093 (t + 0.97)]) lies within the confidence limits of the maximum Ls presented in the study: L max = 319.93 ± 11.3 cm, confirming that this equation perfectly fits the biology of the growth of this species. These conclusions are also valid for the equation for the western stock (Lt = 314.90 [1 – e−0.089 (t +1.13)]). The ICCAT Atlantic bluefin tuna database contains numerous records of Atlantic bluefin tuna L outside the biological feasibility, and solutions are provided to recognize and remove these outliers based on the application of fixed values of Fulton's condition factor (K) between 1.4 and 2.6 and appropriate L-W relationships to correct this situation in the future.

The Spanish trap fishery of bluefin tuna in the Strait of Gibraltar between 1914-2010 is studied, relating the series of annual mean weights to those of the Norwegian purse seine fishery and observing that over the time period in which the two fisheries were operative (1945 to the end of the 1970s), there was a constant increase in the annual mean weight of the catch in both. Once the bluefin tuna fisheries of the north of Europe had disappeared, and therefore those competing with the traps for the resource, an apparent recovery of the population began, as seen by a fall in annual mean weights of the catches made by the traps, which has been maintained to the present day. The creation of the Consorcio Nacional Almadrabero (CNA) in 1929 was a great improvement for the Spanish traps industry. Until its disappearance in 1972 the Consorcio collected a lot of information on the activities of the Spanish traps, which is of great value to scientists.